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Design follows fiction #2: Harmoniums

A team of bioengineers from the University of California San Diego have created living neon – by synchronising the body clocks of a group of bacteria carrying fluorescent proteins. The bacteria now glow on and off in unison, and are arranged to spell out the letters UC SD.

Kurt Vonnegut fans will recognise these living lights as real-life Harmoniums – the cave-dwelling creatures that were programmed by time-traveller Winston to light up en-masse and tantalise Malachi Constant and Boaz in 1959 sci-fi novel The Sirens of Titan.